Tuesday, September 16, 2008

[Week 12] The Completeness of Surah Ikhlas

Asalamu 'alaikum!

Bismillah walhamdolilah wasalatu wasalam 'ala Rasool Allah,

Continuing in our series of the interpretation of Surah Ikhlas. We now move to the last verse of this beautiful chapter in which Allah says:

وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُواً أَحَدٌ

And there is none co-equal to Him

Allah ends this surah in the same manner He began it: making clear His Oneness, His Uniqueness. That there nothing on the face of this earth and beyond that is comparable to Allah azza wa jal in any way, shape or form. Allah is Unique and One in His Lordship, in His rights to be worshipped, and in His Names and Attributes. 

In regards to this verse, Ibn Rajab writes:

"...this chapter contains the genealogy and description of God, the Most-Merciful. It was revealed by Allah to refute beliefs attributed to Him by misguided people concering His similitude, bodily form, origin and offspring. The claims idolaters, Sabians, Christians and Jews, and hypocrites from this nation that Allah gave birth to angels, intelligences, souls, or prophets and others are also included in that"

And so, this surah is a complete affirmation of the single-greatest act man can do: affirming Allah's oneness, tawheed. And it is a negation of the greatest sin that man could ever do: associating partners with Allah, shirk. If truly understand the greatness of tawheed and the futility and dangers of shirk, we will begin to truly understand and appreciate the greatness of this surah. We can only worship Allah, in the manner He deserves, only when we know who He is. Thus, this surah is an explanation of who Allah is; it explains the superiority, glorification, and elevation of God beyond any creations. 

Dr. Bilal Philips writes:

"If God is Unique, nothing can be equal to Him. If nothing is equal to Him, then He alone is Unique. If He alone is Self-Suffiecient and all creation is in need dire need of Him, nothing in creation can be equal to Him. If He does not bear any offspring, nor did anyone or anything give birth to Him, nothing or no one can be equal to Him as every created thing came into existence after a period of non-existence."

May Allah give us the opportunity to increase our khusoo' in salat and better our relationship with our Rabb through our salat. May He make this this information of benefit for all the readers. 

Jazakum Allahu khair,

Wasalamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullah

P.S. Check it out: A Journey for those who Dare - Pt. 2 - Click Here

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